I know what you’re thinking …
“An ad for Singapore University, SMU, doesn’t look that dangerous” – however when you see who those 4 dodgy characters are, it might help you see where I’m getting at …
Yep, they’re bankers [well, the PWC bloke isn’t, but accountancy is close enough!]
Bankers who seem to be trying very hard to smile warmly at the camera but end up looking incredibly uncomfortable.
Anyway the reason why I think this ad is a bad omen for Singapore’s future is because when a University starts communicating that the main reason you should study there [regardless of subject] is because you could get a job in banking, it demonstrates [at least to me] that many education establishments have forgotten what their role is and have moved their focus from knowledge advancement to production-line fulfilment.
Of course not all Universities are like this – and Singapore is particularly bad given their obsession with ‘business’, ‘pseudo-intellectualism and money’ – however I find it incredibly disappointing that a University has adopted this stance – even a Management University – because their overriding corporate policy shouldn’t be about ‘grooming’ tomorrow’s bankers, it should be about creating an environment where students learn, interact and debate regardless of who they are and what they end up doing.
To make it even worse, SMU was created to be a place of learning for the more ‘entrepreneurial’ student – the people who will be the next generation of leader, regardless of what industry they work in – so it’s especially tragic they’ve decided to publically position themselves like every other Singaporean Uni, as a ‘production line for bankers’ when what the country needs are more visionaries, not more bloody sheep.
What’s the point of SMU employing people like the brilliant and talented Professor Mark Chong when they are going all out to attract the kind of student who only cares about how much money they can make in as short a period as they can???
This sort-of links back to the post I wrote about a while back – the one where I was called a racist – because Singapore’s reluctance to value/celebrate creativity [in whatever manifestation it may take] means other opportunities that could change students [and Singapore’s] future for the better will be overlooked, which in this fast-paced, ever changing World is very dangerous, especially when you’re as small as Singapore.
Don’t get me wrong, the banking industry is hugely important and I’ve said a billion times how much I love Singapore/Asia – however when Universities pubically and blatantly push [and value] one industry over all others, then you start to see how education policy is being too influenced by corporate profit – and while that might be fine in the short-term, somewhere down the line it’s going to bite everyone in the arse and not in a good way.
I hope Singapore and it’s Universities realise before it’s too late …